Honors Student

Dorothy Lee Collison, a South River High School honors student and athlete, was killed in a motorcycle accident Dec. 30 in Chesapeake Beach. The Mayo resident was 16. She was thrown from a motorcycle which left the roadway after the operator lost control. She died at the scene of the accident, which is under investigation, according to the Calvert County Sheriff's Office. . Dorothy, who was known as "Dor" or "Dar," was born in Annapolis and spent her early years in Bowie. She had attended Rockledge Elementary School in Bowie and Central Middle School in Edgewater.

St. Pius X School, in Towson, recently announced the following students as recipients of Honors Certificates at the school for the fall semester: First Honors - Katelyn Nemoy, Rebecca Peace, Dimitri Toronjo, James Ugarte, Frankie Andrews, Sarah Sandison, Braelyn Showell, Marietta Gately, Beatrice Harley, Nina Kolodgie, Helen O'Neill, Emmet Reynolds, Owen Reynolds, Eilish Gately, Ben Drechsler, Maddie Clark, Peggy Smith and Madeline Filling....

A former honors student at Western High School has accused a woman who was a student teacher at the North Baltimore school in 1994 of sexually abusing her, according to a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.According to court documents, the teen-ager -- identified only as J. R. -- was abused during a three-month period by Deborah Stollman, 28, a former student teacher from the University of Maryland College Park who was assigned to work in J. R.'s art class and was later employed as a teacher at Thurgood Marshall Middle School.

As the desperate search for missing honors student Phylicia Barnes came to a heartbreaking end Thursday, police said the discovery of her body in the Susquehanna River could be "instrumental" in hunting down new leads in a 4-month-old case that has yielded painfully few clues. "We're at stage one of a new phase of the investigation," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "Finding her body is really going to be instrumental in giving us an opportunity to bring closure to the family.

Michelle Bedke attended Howard Community College's graduation Thursday with mixed emotions. The 20-year-old honors student was happy to receive her degree, and she will continue her education at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she will major in linguistics. There was also another feeling, spurred by the fact that she did not have any family in attendance to share in her accomplishment. "I'm kind of envious of other people," Bedke said Thursday of her fellow graduates.

City police said they suspect foul play in the disappearance of a 16-year-old North Carolina teen and are investigating whether she was abducted from Baltimore last week. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said police are "enormously concerned" that Phylicia Barnes has not been heard from since last Tuesday. Barnes, an honors student who was visiting an older sister, missed a plane back home and has not updated her Facebook page. "We have serious concerns about this case," Bealefeld said.

Christina Richelle Tarsell, a Bard College senior and former Sparks resident, was found dead June 23 at a home in Tivoli, N.Y., that she shared with several other college students. She was 21. Ms. Tarsell, who had recently completed her junior year at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., was spending the summer working at the college's art gallery and museum. Her mother, Emily Tarsell of Sparks, said the cause of death has not been determined and that there was no sign of trauma, forced entry or other trouble.

For the first time, the University of Maryland Baltimore County has tied the University of Maryland College Park in the SAT scores of its freshmen.A dramatic ACC basketball showdown, it isn't. But UMBC officials have lost little time touting the results as proof that the young Catonsville campus has matured."Our campus is one which really highlights the accomplishments of high-achievement students," UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski said. "It's not OK to be an honors student at UMBC. It's great to be an honors student at UMBC."

A 19-year-old honors student convicted of strangling his girlfriend and burying her in a shallow grave because she broke up with him was sentenced in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Adnan Masud Syed maintained his innocence at his sentencing on first-degree murder and kidnapping convictions, even as his attorney asked Judge Wanda K. Heard for mercy when punishing Syed because the killing was "a crime of passion." "He made a bad decision," Syed's attorney, Charles H. Dorsey III, told Heard.

As the desperate search for missing honors student Phylicia Barnes came to a heartbreaking end Thursday, police said the discovery of her body in the Susquehanna River could be "instrumental" in hunting down new leads in a 4-month-old case that has yielded painfully few clues. "We're at stage one of a new phase of the investigation," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "Finding her body is really going to be instrumental in giving us an opportunity to bring closure to the family.

Howard Community College student Sarah Blake was in Egypt when that nation's turbulent demonstrations began, and she and her friends found themselves being pushed and shoved in Cairo's streets. "It was really scary. That's when the tear gas started coming out more and the water cannon trucks were going through. The police cars would come through, and crowds of people would just scramble," said Blake, who returned from the violence-torn nation last week after a one-month stay. Blake is among several area residents who have come home from the country with harrowing stories that mirror the images depicted on news broadcasts.

City police said they suspect foul play in the disappearance of a 16-year-old North Carolina teen and are investigating whether she was abducted from Baltimore last week. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said police are "enormously concerned" that Phylicia Barnes has not been heard from since last Tuesday. Barnes, an honors student who was visiting an older sister, missed a plane back home and has not updated her Facebook page. "We have serious concerns about this case," Bealefeld said.

Michelle Bedke attended Howard Community College's graduation Thursday with mixed emotions. The 20-year-old honors student was happy to receive her degree, and she will continue her education at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she will major in linguistics. There was also another feeling, spurred by the fact that she did not have any family in attendance to share in her accomplishment. "I'm kind of envious of other people," Bedke said Thursday of her fellow graduates.

The 17 roses that adorned the desks of Brian Rainville's third-grade classroom at Maree G. Farring Elementary/Midde School symbolized why he was named Baltimore's Teacher of the Year on Thursday morning. The roses were originally a bouquet presented to Rainville as he learned he had received the honor during a surprise visit from schools CEO Andres Alonso and other administrators. As fast as they were in his arms, Rainville handed the flowers to one of his students who distributed them to the rest of the class, as Rainville offered his first words: "It's the students' accomplishments that allow any teacher to succeed," he said.

EMMITSBURG -- Like hundreds of other runners and walkers, Elizabeth DiNunzio pounded out her exercise miles at danger's edge - local roadsides near the campus of Mount St. Mary's, where vehicles and people often come within inches of each other. In April, a pickup truck crossed into DiNunzio's safety zone along Old Emmitsburg Road, striking and killing the 22-year-old Spanish major as she trained for the Pittsburgh Marathon. Police say she followed all the rules: running without headphones, facing traffic and staying as far from traffic as possible on a road with no paved shoulder.

Andrew Edward Neubauer, a Franklin High School honor student, died suddenly of unknown causes Wednesday at Northwest Hospital Center. The Reisterstown resident was 16. Andrew, born in Towson and raised in Reisterstown, attended Reisterstown Elementary School and Sudbrook Magnet Middle School before attending Franklin, where he would have been a junior this school year. A member of the gifted and talented education program at Franklin, Andrew excelled in math and science. He played trumpet in the school's symphonic band and dreamed of pursuing a career in computer science after college.

Howard Community College student Sarah Blake was in Egypt when that nation's turbulent demonstrations began, and she and her friends found themselves being pushed and shoved in Cairo's streets. "It was really scary. That's when the tear gas started coming out more and the water cannon trucks were going through. The police cars would come through, and crowds of people would just scramble," said Blake, who returned from the violence-torn nation last week after a one-month stay. Blake is among several area residents who have come home from the country with harrowing stories that mirror the images depicted on news broadcasts.

At just 5 feet 3, Westminster shot-putter Kiara Adams normally begins meets looking up to her opponents, the more accomplished of whom often stand nearly 6 feet tall.Come time for the medals ceremony, however, it's those same opponents who are usually looking up to her.In an event where a thrower's size can often be a determining factor in her outcome, the junior said it's her strength, which she's developed in her dual role as a competitive power lifter, that gives her the edge."Some think that being taller is an advantage, but I just make up for it with my strength," said Adams.

Christina Richelle Tarsell, a Bard College senior and former Sparks resident, was found dead June 23 at a home in Tivoli, N.Y., that she shared with several other college students. She was 21. Ms. Tarsell, who had recently completed her junior year at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., was spending the summer working at the college's art gallery and museum. Her mother, Emily Tarsell of Sparks, said the cause of death has not been determined and that there was no sign of trauma, forced entry or other trouble.

Gabrielle Keiran Dreistadt, a Wilde Lake Middle School honor student who worked with abused animals and through her church assisted senior citizens and others who needed a spare hand, died of aplastic anemia Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Columbia resident was 12. Gabrielle, who was born and raised in Columbia, was diagnosed in March with the disease that took her life. Aplastic anemia occurs when bone marrow fails to produce sufficient blood cells. "She was a strong and healthy girl who suddenly got sick," said her mother, Holly Anne Conti of Columbia.